Three suicide bombings rocked multiple cities in Saudi Arabia on Monday, killing a total of four people. The attacks, which appear to be linked to other recent terrorist activity despite no current claims of responsibility, targeted Saudi security forces as well as locations with Western connections such as the U.S. Consulate. These bombings join a slew of other attacks over the past week including a bombing in Bangladesh that killed more than 200 people and injured scores of others.
The first Saudi bombing took place at the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, which resulted in injuries to police in the area but left only the bomber dead. The second bomb, set off in Qatif, was detonated near a Shiite mosque but also only killed the suicide bomber and left nobody injured. The deadliest of the trio of attacks happened in Medina, which is an incredibly important city to Islam as that is where the Prophet Mohammed is buried. The bomb was purportedly aimed at security forces in the area but according to CNN reports, there has been no confirmation whether or not any of the four people killed were indeed members of security in the area.
Without any proclamations of responsibility released as of now, there isn’t any way to tell with certainty who carried out these bombings. However, based on comparisons to other attacks in the past months and years, many believe the most likely option is that ISIS is behind the violence. If that turns out to be correct, reports say that their motivations may be different from past attacks or these bombings are ill-advised due to how Saudi people will react to violence near the holy place of Medina. As investigations continue, it is expected that a claim will come to light and more details can be shed on why the bombings occurred.
(via CNN)